Oh Crystal Palace, you are probably one of the best looking restaurants in the World ( Disney World that is). You're pretty on the inside too, which is always most important!
We did not have a reservation, but we did join the walk up list when we were in the park and close enough to the restaurant. Our estimated wait time was only 10 minutes but we waited a bit longer
We don't usually eat real late, but it had been a busy day for us. We had played Foot Golf earlier in the evening at Disney's Oak Trail Golf Course. We went back to the resort to clean up and didn't make it back to magic Kingdom till 7:40 pm. We were seated at Crystal Palace at 8:11 pm.
The Crystal Palace is a Victorian style green house/atrium and there are windows all around.
It is so beautiful inside too. There is a lot of foliage and it feels like we are eating in a Victorian garden. Do these chairs look familiar? If so, they are the same chairs ( or very similar too) the ones at Tony's Town Square that are used on the patio and in the atrium.
The theme of Crystal Palace is Winnie the Pooh's Friendship Day Celebration.
I was excited that we got a table by the window! Too bad it would be getting dark soon.
Thank goodness this is a buffet style meal because we were both ready to eat after our evening of golf.
There were two buffets ( one on each side of the restaurant), but they both had the same offerings.
FYI: Although the menus for all the Disney buffet restaurants are online, you can't always go by them. Of course look to see if it is the style of food you enjoy, this buffet is American, but the offerings can be different than what is listed. We've found this to be a good thing, because there is usually much more on the buffet, than what is listed on the menu. During our visit they offered more vegetables, mac and cheese, sausage, meatballs, pork, soup, and a few other things that weren't on the menu.
On the other hand, I was looking for the ravioli that was on the menu but was not on the buffet. With all the food that was there, missing the ravioli wasn't a big deal!
You can see the current buffet offerings HEREHERE. It may not seem like you are getting a lot for the money, but once you get there, you will see the buffet is plentiful.
Now on to desserts. These desserts looked like something you would get on Disney Cruise Lines!
We were very pleased with the variety of food and the taste. It was all very good!
But it would not be a friendship day celebration with out our friends Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger parading around the restaurant.
After the parade, each of the characters came to our table to spend time with us.
However, the cast members and characters certainly do not treat you any differently.
Because we were dinner guests at Crystal Palace, a cast member told us we could watch the firework show from their porch. This was an excellent spot and the best viewing location we had during our visit. We enjoyed being able to sit on a bench and not have an obstructed view!
There were quite a few people on the porch with us, so I'm not quite sure if you had to be a guest at Crystal Palace to sit there or not. If not, it just might be our new favorite fireworks viewing location!
Since it is a Character buffet, it is of course a bit pricey (can be over $50 per adult for dinner but less for breakfast)). We noticed that the prices do fluctuated on certain days of the week and time of year. However, I've only been able to see the current price on the day it currently is. I have not been able to look up prices for future dates. If you know how to do that, please let me know! You can check out the current prices and offerings HERE.
Overall, the variety of food was great, the taste was excellent, and the character interactions elevated the Disney experience. A real nice bonus was being able to see the fireworks from the restaurant. This prevented us from having to rush to find a spot to watch the show. It was a great way to end the evening.
Till next time.....M & L
You might also enjoy these posts on other Magic Kingdom Restaurants:
Check out these posts!
Storybook dining with Snow White and the Evil Queen
Disney Tea at the Garde View Lounge
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Fairytales and Fitness is a personal blog authored and edited by us, Meranda and Lacey. The thoughts expressed here represent only our own and are not meant to be taken as professional advice. Please note that our thoughts and opinions change from time to time. We consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind in an ever changing society. Any thoughts and opinions expressed within our out-of-date posts may not be the same, nor even similar, to those we may express today. Some links may contain affiliate links. Some links are just to pages we'd like to share.